Strong ideals … Mark Woods bought the message of hope to a group of Caroline Springs residents. 55949 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By Natalie Gallenti
Woods, who travels the globe wowing audiences with remarkable feats like tearing phone books in half and bending steel bars, revealed that physical strength was meaningless without the strength to change your life and make yourself a better person.
The father of four spoke to a packed house about the issues which plagued him as a teenager and threatened to ruin his life.
“I had all this strength but didn’t have the strength to change my life,” he said.
Woods revealed the struggles he faced growing up in a broken home.
“My mum was left to raise me and my brother.
“But I needed a father figure, an example to follow.”
He said by the age of 16 he had left home and had been recruited by the army, which instead of offering him direction and stability only served in giving him the physical skills to support the anger that had bubbled inside him.
“I was getting into a lot of fights. I wasn’t a nice person to be around.
“That’s the way my life was progressing. It was getting worse and worse.”
It wasn’t until the death of his grandfather, who had helped raise him, that Woods realised there must be more to life.
Going AWOL, he became a devout Christian and “filled the emptiness in his heart”.
“No fairytale changed my life.”
Now 50 years old, Woods travels the world spreading his message of hope and speaking to youngsters and adults alike, about peer pressure, anger management, violence and drug abuse.
And while his physical display of strength wows audiences he said he hopes it is his message of faith that remains in their minds long after.
